


My Brother's Keeper

by SnowWhiteKnight



Series: Holidays [12]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Adopted Sibling Relationship, F/M, Family Angst, Family Fluff, Gregor's also gay, Gregor's misunderstood especially by himself, Gregor's not a monster, Holiday, M/M, National Sibling Day - April 10, Natural Sibling Relationship, Other, Sibling Bonding, Therapy for all Cleganes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-11
Updated: 2016-04-11
Packaged: 2018-06-01 18:17:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6530878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SnowWhiteKnight/pseuds/SnowWhiteKnight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sandor gets a letter from an imprisoned Gregor.</p>
            </blockquote>





	My Brother's Keeper

**Author's Note:**

> A day late, but meh.

Sandor looked down at the letter in his hand. It was just one of many he had received since five years ago. That first one...well, that one was a doozy. 

**********

**Five Years Ago**

His mother called him, telling him he had received some mail. It was odd since Sandor hadn’t lived at that address in a while, but she seemed adamant that he come over to get it, so he told her he’d be by after work. That pleased his mother to no end, and she promised to cook a good meal for them all. Ellaria had still lived at home at the time.

She pointed to the letter sitting on the kitchen table before turning back to the stove. Ellaria wasn’t home yet and wouldn’t pester him about it. Bronn had moved out a year before him and generally only came here on Sundays for family dinner. Alone to his own devices, Sandor had looked down at the letter and felt a chill come over him. The return address was Harrenhal State Penitentiary, from one Gregor Clegane. Suddenly, it made sense why the letter had come here. Gregor hadn’t known exactly where his little brother had wound up before he had been sentenced for the murder of their father fifteen years ago, but he knew he could contact Social Services to forward the mail.

Sandor had been seeing a therapist to deal with his issues caused by his birth family for years, and he was down to only one session a month, but he still needed to take a deep breath and his hands trembled a little as he opened the letter.

_ Dear Sandor, _ __  
_ I hope this letter finds you well. I have much to tell you. First and foremost, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry for what I did to you, for leaving you alone. I’m sorry for everything that I caused. I realize now that I was using drugs, anger and violence as a crutch to hide my own pain. I tried so hard to keep that from you, but I know I may have hurt you unintentionally. It’s taken me a while, but I have come to terms with what I did, what I am, and who I want to be now. I know it is a lot to ask, but I would like to try to make reparations to you. We used to be friends when we were little, do you remember that? I would like to return to that, or at least try to get back to that same place. There’s more I would like to tell you, but I’m not sure you want to hear it in the first place. If you want nothing to do with me, I will understand, but I hope I hear from you. _ _  
_ __ Gregor

His chest was tight and painful, his face wet for some reason. The room was spinning, gyrating. He felt slender arms encircle him from the side, hugging him fiercely. It was Ellaria, whispering in his ear, “Calmate, mi hermanito, calamate. Breathe, just breathe.” She rubbed his back in small circles, the way she did when he first came to them and he would wake up from nightmares. He hadn’t realized he was hyperventilating. Slowly, his breath returned to normal. Their mother was sitting at the table with them. Bronn had shown up too, to Sandor’s surprise.  _ Mom must have asked them to be here, _ he thought.  _ She knew I would need them. _ Bronn didn’t say anything, but he sat next to Sandor in stoic solidarity.

“Is it so bad, mi amor?” their mother asked him, holding his hand as Ellaria continued to hug him.

“No...not bad. It was...unexpected,” Sandor had replied. “Gregor...he wants to...he wants to be in my life again...wants to be friends, at least.”

“Is that something you want?” Bronn asked quietly.

He had shaken his head, “I don’t know.”

It took several months and a few talks with his therapist, but Sandor had finally written back to Gregor. He was ready to see how his brother had changed and learn what else he wanted to tell him.

**********

**Present Day**

He was leaning on the side of his car outside of Harrenhal, his brother’s last letter in his hand, telling him the day he was being released. Sansa was perched on the hood of his car, waiting with him.

“So, let me make sure I understand this, Gregor went to prison for killing your father, who abused not only the two of you, but your mother as well, and you had long suspected that he was responsible for the death of your baby sister and then later the death of your mother. And he was the one who held your face to the dying embers after you had done something wrong, but it was Gregor who pulled him off of you.”

“Yep. He was always large for his age, and thankfully so, in that case.”

“But you believed it was Gregor who did all that?”

“Yeah, my mother and sister...I was too young to really know anything. After my disfigurement, a lot of things were jumbled in my mind, and then my father was there, blaming Gregor for it all, so I believed him. Gregor wasn’t in a position to defend himself, he had been a delinquent, he was angry and violent all the time, drinking and getting high. The cops took one look at him and sent him to juvie. After he got out, he came straight home and killed our father. Shot him right in the head. He then called the police and waited for them to take him away. He didn’t know I was there and saw every gory detail until the cops were dragging him away. I was seven, and he was sixteen, there wasn’t a lot we had in common, though I do remember he would play with me, shared his old toys when our parents were fighting and we would make up stories about knights and fair maidens. He tried to protect me from our father, but I didn’t see it for so long. He blamed himself for leaving me alone in the world. He heard the horror stories of kids in the foster system while he was in prison. He didn’t know I was adopted into a good family. Not until I wrote back and told him. I tried to visit a few times but I got here and then couldn’t go in. I stuck to just writing letters to him.”

“You ready to see him again?” she asked, slipping her hand into his.

“Yeah, I think so. He’s going to be staying with a friend, but I offered to pick him up. Thanks for coming with me, by the way.” He gave her a light kiss.

“It’s not a problem. I’m happy to be here for you.” She turned her head to the prison gates. The door was opening and a very large man stepped out, ducking down so he didn’t hit his head. “Oh, gods, he’s even taller than you!”

Sandor laughed, “Yeah, he used to call me runt or pup, but as an endearment.” Neither one of them glanced at the car that pulled up behind Sandor’s. It wasn’t until Gregor had cleared the final gate of the prison that they even noticed the person who got out.

“Greggy!!” a slightly shrill voice called out. A small man charged at Gregor and jumped onto him, pulling the very large man down into a deep kiss.

“Uh...you didn’t mention that he…”

“I had no idea...he never said…shit, Brienne was spot on about the gay part. Really hoping she wrong about the other part...” he muttered.

“The other…? OH! Right. In her ‘fanfic’. About him being incestuous. Yeah, no, seriously doubt it, but if it comes down to that, I’ll fight him for you,” Sansa said, winking at him. Sandor just laughed at that. They were both a bit shocked, and then a little grossed out by the extreme display of affection going on in front of them. Sandor half expected cheesy porn music to start playing. “Hey, get a room, you two!” Sansa called out cheerfully. “Or else I’m riding this guy on the hood of the car!” Sandor barked even more laughter at that. Sometimes he wondered if he was a bad influence on his little bird.

Gregor broke the kiss, noticed his brother and blushed a deep red. The smaller man scowled, but Gregor whispered to him and they both walked over to Sandor and Sansa, hand in hand.

“Little brother, uh, sorry, I just...I should have told you…”

“Nah, it’s fine. Actually, a friend of ours kind of called it a few months ago when she got extremely drunk.” Sandor chuckled. 

“Uh, what?” Gregor looked very confused.

“Don’t worry about it. Anyway, Gregor, I’d like you to meet Sansa.” Sansa jumped down from her perch and hugged Gregor, who looked very out of his element. “Yeah, she’s a hugger. Her whole family is, minus her sister. Mom and Ellaria are also huggers, but I’m not though, so no worries there.”

“N-nice to meet you, Sansa. Oh, this is Hugh deVale. He’s been writing to me for the past ten years now. Visits often. He’s the friend I mentioned I’ll be staying with.” Gregor seemed more nervous than Sandor had expected, but Sansa was great at easing people into conversation.

“So...are you two just friends, or… Because that kiss seems like more than just friends,” Sansa said with a smile and a friendly wink.

“Oh,” Gregor looked at Hugh. “We hadn’t really talked about that. I was hoping...over dinner…” Hugh smiled at him.

“Of course. I apologize for just showing up. When you said you had a ride, I thought you meant the bus that picks up people. Or I thought there was a bus. There’s always a bus in the movies.” He looked around.

“I would have gotten out at a later time if I took the bus. It stops here at three in the afternoon.” Gregor looked down at his feet.  _ He is really different from how he used to be, _ Sandor thought.

“Well, we’ll let you two get going, it’s a long way back to the city. Give me a call, or come by the shop to chat,” Sandor said, handing Gregor his card. “Mom wants to have you over for dinner sometime as well. She wants to meet the man who saved his little brother from a monster and brought her son to her. Bronn and Ellaria are eager to meet you as well. They’ll probably bring their better halves, and Hugh, you’re more then welcome to join us as well, if you want.”

Gregor gave him a half-smile, Sansa was giving his hand a squeeze and Hugh...was looking at Gregor like he was a juicy piece of meat to be honest, but it was that friendly atmosphere that he blamed for letting go of Sansa’s hand so that he could hug his brother. “You tell anyone I hugged you and I will deny it to my dying day,” he whispered to Gregor, who nodded and hugged him back.


End file.
